IPL Auction 2023: "It's Certainly No Guarantee He's Going To Be Available For Every Game" - Tom Moody On Mark Wood

Former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran became the most expensive wicketkeeper in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who have reached the playoffs in their inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) season in 2022, bought Pooran for Rs 16 crore in the IPL mini-auction on Friday.

Nicholas Pooran struggled in the recently concluded T20 World Cup in Australia, but that did not affect his reputation with the IPL franchises. Despite his poor IPL record, he was picked at a huge price in the IPL auction. Pooran’s base price was 2 crore, and Lucknow won the bidding war with Delhi Capitals to sign the West Indies player.

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They Did Pretty Good Job – Tom Moody

Tom Moody believes Nicholas Pooran will strengthen the Lucknow Supergiants’ middle order. Former Sunrisers coach Moody said that Naveen is a good pace bowler, but they could have opted for a more experienced bowler as there is no guarantee that English pacer Mark Wood will be available for every game.

“Yeah, I think they did a pretty good job that yet look, we all would surprise with the price that Nicolas Poron went for. They clearly feel that he’s going to have a lot of needed power in the middle order. Also a left-hander, which is an important point of difference to have in that middle order,” Tom Moody remarked on espncricinfo.

“Naveen is a good backup Pace Bowler for wood but I think they possibly could have got someone with a bit more you know, I suppose experience in IPL with regards to backup for Wood because it’s certainly no guarantee he’s going to be available for every game,” he added.

Lucknow Super Giants Squad

Yudhvir Charak (INR 20 lakh), Naveen-ul-Haq (INR 50 lakh), Swapnil Singh (INR 20 lakh), Prerak Mankad (INR 20 lakh), Amit Mishra (INR 50 lakh), Daniel Sams (INR 75 lakh), Romario Shepherd (INR 50 lakh), Yash Thakur (INR 45 lakh), Jaydev Unadkat (INR 50 lakh), Nicholas Pooran (INR 16 crore), KL Rahul (c), Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi.

Also read: IPL Auction 2023: “It’s Just An Opportunity For MS Dhoni To Pass The Baton” – Scott Styris

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